CPS 5th Anniversary - Day 8 Sketch

Hi folks,

back again today with another of this year's Valentine's. This one is for my sister. Fairly clean and simple.

card details:

• finished size: 5.5 x 5.5 inches, CTMH Chocolate Card stock
• patterned papers: Martha Stewart Key and Heart Mat Stack
• sentiment: Verve Love Notes
• Verve Jotted Heart die cut, Martha Stewart Border Punch
• Stampin' Up adhesive rhinestones
• layout: CPS 5th Anniversary Day 8 Sketch

additional challenges for this card

• Tuesday Throwdown #84: Be My Valentine
• Simon Says Challenge: Love is in the Air

Hope you are all having a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by.

Shoebox Gathering #1

Hi folks,

as promised,  here are some photos from our first shoebox gathering at my house yesterday! Dearly beloved grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics of us getting our crafty on!

Intent on creating....

Me on the left, Chrissy on the right - we're working on the card that Dominique designed.

Dominique on the left, Tanya on the right....

The four cards we created....mine is by far the the simplest. Going to have to up my game for the next gathering!

And close-up photos of everyone's card design....

By Tanya.....Look at all the detail!  Pretty ribbon, pin, charm and brad. Not to mention the stamped and embossed bird! I'm really going to have to take out my embossing powders and use them more.

By Dominique.....oh my! Those hearts are hand-painted. Very cool with pewter metallics mixed into the red. And that little key charm.

By Chrissy.....isn't that heart-filled mini-envelope the cutest? I'm going to be using this idea again I think. I can see it with hearts, flowers, shamrocks, cupcakes.....

And mine..... looking kinda ho-hum after the other three I think.

oh and this photo made me realize that my sample card has the heart locks upside down - and I thought the paper was omni-directional. doh! This is going to drive me crazy so I am going to have to try to fix the other card. sigh.....

So the great thing about today's get-together? I'm heading to Newfoundland again in late February to spend a week with my Mom when my Dad goes back out to sea. If I have time, I like to have cards prepped ahead of time for my sweetie. So....after today's get-together I'm off to a running start with four  cards!

Thanks for stopping by - hope you are having a wonderful day!

My Shoebox Gathering Creation

Hi folks,

Before Christmas I asked some of my crafty pals if they would be interested in having a little "shoebox" get together from time to time. If you are familiar with the idea of a "shoebox" get together it goes something like this - everyone makes a sample card and brings enough supplies for everyone else who is attending to make the same card. Since I've never done this before, I suggested we keep it fairly simple since we are all of different skill levels and experience when it comes to making cards. Then there's me -- "Miss slower than cold molasses running uphill" when it comes to CERTAIN aspects of card-making (seriously,  I am the slowest person I know when it comes to colouring) and not everyone likes to colour or has the supplies for colouring.

Anyways, taking all of that into consideration, I came up with this fairly clean and simple card.

As you can see, I did two versions of it so the gals can choose for themselves which version they prefer. The papers are double-sided so it makes it easy to pick one or the other. The only thing I  had to cut extras of were the hearts since the die is not symmetrical and has a different orientation if you flip over the die cut. I'm also going to leave it up to the gals to decide which sentiment they want to put on their cards - I do have a LOT at my disposal so.....

I've even got the bows already tied and ready to be attached to the cards -thank goodness for my Bow Easy!

I'll share with you tomorrow what the other gals had for us to create - the other three cards were just fantastic and VERY creative. Mine was definitely the simplest of the lot. I'm going to have to up my game for the next gathering!

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft cardstock base
• patterned papers: Martha Stewart Mat Stack
• stamps: Verve Love Notes
• die cut: Verve Jotted Heart
• rhinestones: Stampin' Up 
• brown satin ribbon from my stash (Fabricland). I finally used it ALL up for the shoebox supplies (I've had it for a year or so at least, so now I get to buy more!)

challenges for these cards:

• There She Goes Clear Stamps #140: Love is in the air
• Use it Tuesday Challenge #24: All about love
• Anything Goes Challenge #59: To the one I love
• Oldie But a Goodie: Have a heart
• Pixie Cottage #105: Love and Kisses (theme)
• DYSU #56: Ribbons
• Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge #170: Ribbon